CULTURE AND LANGUAGE

CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
VALERIE L. HARVEY
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
AUGUST 3, 2009
PROF. TEDDY MOYA


























"Christianity has been forced to adapt to this brave
new world. No longer able to assume the truth of its
traditional world-view, where God created and redeemed
the whole world, it has retreated to the 'spiritual', the
realm of personal feeling and the sense of something
beyond--as defining the way the world is, but rather as a
component of human pshychology, necessary as a way of
coming to terms with the impersonal contingencies of
natural and human affairs" (Burbidge). We have had many
religions in this world, from Catholics to Lutherans, and
everyone in between.
Why are there so many religions? Because "culture
is related to religion and particularly to religious
discourse, docmented by ancient through modern
historical cases of the frightening power of spiritual
messages" (Hammerback). As John Burbidge states, "Faith
involves entrusting oneself to a reality that is
ultimate." Faith in Christianity means putting one's
whole heart and soul on God. It is so easy to lose faith
in Christianity.
Christianity also teaches us to love another. "The
practice of giving resonates with fundamental themes of
Christian doctrine. Creation is a free, uncoerced gift
of existence, and the incarnation is described as an act
of grace, unconstrained goodwill. Christians are urged
to practice agape: love not as sexual desire, not as a
devotion to something transcedent, not as friendship,
but as charity" (Burbidge). "Anthropologists and others
have examined how gifts function as a medium of exchange
in various cultures. While no return is expected
immediately, the giving of gifts produces a sense of
obligation, which in due course requires a gift return.
Yet, the Christian tradition has canonized Nicholas as
the embodiment of charity, a simple good man whose gifts
were always anonymous precisely because anonymity removes
the opportunity for any reciprocity" (Burbidge).
As we learn to live for God, "we mature with others,
and through a sense of belonging and searching together"
(Burbidge). This is why we go to church. To be with
other Christians in fellowship and to join in praise and
worship with God. "Culture is related to religion and
particularly to religious discourse, documented by
ancient through modern historical cases of the
frightening power of spiritual messages" (Hammerback).
"John Marshall notes that while religious toleration
was practiced, it was legally proscribed. Where private
religious practice was permitted, public expression of
one's religious commitments was not" (Charles). J. Daryl
Charles goes on to say that, "Much of their understanding
of liberty, happiness, religious toleration and freedom
of expression was the product of their reflections on the
European experience." He goes onto say that "ultimately,
forced belief, in addition to undermining the credibility
of belief, develops an indifference to religious truth,
the fruit of which is wickedness."
John Locke describes it in the following manner:
All the life and power of true religion consists in the
inward and full persuasion of the mind. . .whatever
possession we make, to whatever outward worship we
conform, if we are not fully satisfied in our own mind
that the one is true, and the other well pleasing unto
God, such obstacles to our salvation. . .[and] we add
unto the number of our other sins, those also of
hypocrisy, and the contempt of His Divine Majesty
(Charles). But, Marshall traces patristic and late-
medieval arguments that Jews, Muslims, and pagans should
be tolerated, whereas "heretics" and "schismatics" should
be punished (Charles). Charles rationalizes, according
to Marshall, this as " the assumption that the former are
those who have known the truth of Christianity and
therefor need persuasion in order to embrace it. He goes
on to say that the latter, however, are distinguished by
the fact that they have deliberately turned away from the
truth.
Another fact is that we as followers of Jesus are
forgiven if we repent of our sins and ask forgiveness of
our sins. "A well-worn bit of conventional wisdom among
religious folk is that we should 'hate the sin while
loving the sinner' " (Charles). As God has forgiven us
and taken us into His kingdom, we, too, ought to forgive
our fellow brother. "To speak the truth in love is to
embody a moral honesty that refuses to compromise, in the
name of 'tolerance' or 'diversity', the consequences of
ultimate reality, while it simultaneously is cognizant of
the fact that fellow human beings are to be treated as
bearers of the image of God" (Charles).
"Intolerance--of theft, burglary, cruelty, classroom
hooliganism, disrespect for parental authority, and
violent crime of all sorts; of substance abuse,
infidelity, illegitimacy, perversion, pornography, rape,
and child molestation; of fraud, envy, covetousness, and
knavery; of sloth, mediocrity, incompetence,
maleducation, improvidence, irresponsibility and
feckleness--a society tolerant of those things would
soon find itself in serious trouble, even facing
dissolution, and many people in that society would be in
peril of their lives" (Charles). But the point is, we
don't have to fear for our lives. All we have to do is
get our hearts right with Jesus, accept His free gift of
salvation, and confess and repent of our sins. If we do
all of this, we should be able to live eternally in
heaven with God, our heavenly father.




















BIBLIOGRAPHY
John Burbidge. (2001). Christianity After Christendom.
Journal of Canadian Studies, 36(2), 207-214.
J. Daryl Charles. (2007). Truth, Tolerance, and
Christian Conviction: Reflections and Perennial
Question -- A Review Essay. Christian Scholar's
Review, 36(2), 185-218.
John C. Hammerback. (2005). Holy Terrors: Thinking
About Religion After September 11. Rhetoric &
Public Affairs, 8(3), 504-507.